IT WAS reported in The Press of February 28 that the detective in charge of the search for Claudia Lawrence has been criticised in a national newspaper for searching the alleyway behind her home six years after her disappearance.

Surely it is never too late to try and bring this case to a conclusion.

After all, the police are still investigating TV stars and politicians who are thought to have committed crimes in the 1970s.

On a lighter note, maybe the investigating officers know that some back lanes York have not been cleaned for years.

AP Cox, Heath Close, Holgate, York.